1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recovery mode feature for remote units which enables a user to easily and quickly locate and recover the remote unit and, more particularly, to a recovery mode feature employing both musical sound and light to assist the user in locating and recovering the remote unit.
2. Related Art
The use of remote units, such as control units for televisions, stereos, VCR's and the like, as well as telephones etc. are widely used. Users of these remote units tend to misplace the units and subsequently forget where they are located within a home, place of business, or the like. Consequently, valuable time is lost in searching for misplaced remote units, which may elevate users' distress levels, particularly in times of emergency.
It is known that human beings are less receptive to sensory input when under stress. Indeed, high stress levels in human beings are characterized by increased adrenaline levels, rapid heart beat, shallow and rapid respiration, all causing a person to become less rational and less capable of focusing, prioritizing and completing tasks. For example, when a person is faced with a life or death situation, his or her stress level is likely to be elevated causing that person to be less responsive to sensory inputs, such as audible sounds and visual stimuli. When in such a state, a person is less likely to be able to calmly and rapidly locate a misplaced remote unit, such as a cordless telephone handset.
Therefore, in emergencies, it is very difficult for the user to find a misplaced remote unit because his or her adrenaline level increases and substantially prevents the user from focusing on the task at hand, namely, finding the remote unit.
Further, it is known that noise pollution is undesirable and should be avoided because prolonged exposure of humans to noise pollution has negative affects on human health.
Consequently, there is a need in the art to provide a remote unit with the capability of emitting a musical audible output as part of a locating and recovering feature such that the audible music provides a calming effect on the user, thereby becoming an input stimuli to which a panicking user will respond.